Roanoke Mining Company

Records, 1907-1938
1 cubic foot

The records of the Roanoke Mining Company are part of the records of Day Mines, Inc., donated to the University of Idaho by Henry Day in 1984 and 1985. Initial processing of this manuscript group was done by Leslie Smallwood in June 1987. Processing was completed by Michael Tarabulski in June 1991. Funds for processing were provided by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, the U.S. Department of Education HEA Title II-C "Strengthening Research Library Resources" program, the Library Associates of the University of Idaho and other donors.

COMPANY HISTORY

The Roanoke Mining Company, Ltd., incorporated in 1907, had holdings in the Yreka Mining District, Shoshone County, Idaho. These properties were: the Dooley, Dooley #2, Dooley #3, Picket, Picket #2, Roanoke and Roan Oak #2 lodes. The corporation intended to extract commercially viable ores, chiefly lead and silver, from its seven claims.

In January 1907, the ten founders of Roanoke called the first stockholders meeting, held at the office of H.P. Knight in Wallace. The board of directors elected at that time were James F. McCarthy, president; Alfred Page, vice-president; W.D. Greenough, secretary; G.W. Ruggles, treasurer; and J.R. Smith. By-laws were adopted and stock certificates issued. Each of the ten founders of Roanoke received 100,000 shares of the company's 1,500,000 shares of capital stock, valued at $1.00 per share.

Minutes and related records from 1907-1912 were reported lost or destroyed; apparently saved those of the October 23, 1908 and April 15, 1911 special meetings. Meetings were primarily devoted to the election of officers and levying the nine assessments the corporation required to meet expenses and develop the mines. The first assessment was levied in 1908; others followed in 1913, 1918, 1920, 1927 and 1928, with the final assessment levied in 1936.

Little progress was made in the Roanoke mines over the thirty-year life of the company. In 1925 the company was reinstated, after a four years of inactivity. Sometime between 1921 and 1925 the original by-laws and early records had been lost. New by-laws, noting the lack of earlier records, were adopted after the corporation's resurrection.

The company had for some time been trying to interest "any responsible concern" in taking the property over, on a basis satisfactory to the stockholders. In 1926 the Day family gained the controlling interest in Roanoke; the majority stock was held in Hercules' name. The following year Henry L. Day was elected president of the corporation, an office he held until the dissolution of Roanoke in 1937.

In 1926-1927, the time of greatest activity in Roanoke's history, development expenditures were over $13,000. The tunnels had been caved and in disrepair, requiring considerable work to clear and explore the mines.

After 1927, nothing more was spent on development. A lease was granted to C.E. Plumtree in 1928, followed by a $1,500 loan. Plumtree's default resulted in Roanoke's final assessment in 1936 to cover expenses related to foreclosure on Plumtree's homestead. The mine proved so unproductive from 1932 to 1937 that Roanoke was unable to pay its bills, though expenditures were nominal. Finally, in 1937, Roanoke's board of directors (H.L. Day, F.M. Rothrock, W.B. Heitfeld, S.F. Heitfeld, and Herman Rossi) dissolved the corporation and conveyed its property to Hercules Mining Company, the majority stockholder with 1,114,750 shares.

SCOPE AND CONTENT

The records of the Roanoke Mining Company span the years 1907 to 1938, with the bulk of the material covering the years 1912 to 1938. Included are minutes of meetings, financial statements, correspondence with suppliers and stockholders, annual statements and reports to state agencies, a stock ledger, cancelled stock certificates, assessment records, vouchers, check registers, employment cards, and tax returns.

Related materials can be found in the records of the Hercules Mining Company.

ARRANGEMENT AND DESCRIPTION

This manuscript group is divided into six series: Records of the Board of Directors and the Stockholders, 1907-1937; General Correspondence and Related Records, 1916-1935; Capital Stock Records, 1908-1938; Financial Records, 1913-1937; Personnel Records, 1926-1927; Tax Records, 1921-1937

The first series includes a minute book for 1911-1937. Pasted in the back pages of this volume are a few receipts for goods and services dating 1916-1922. A folder of records relating to meeting, 1907-1936, includes articles of incorporation, by-laws, lists of stockholders, notices of meetings, proxy notices, copies of minutes, agendas, and reports.

General Correspondence and Related Records, the second series, contains a folder of Annual Statements of Domestic Corporations and Annual Reports of Mining Corporations (Idaho), 1927-1937. A general file, alphabetically arranged, includes items relating to assays, fire insurance, a lease with the Florence Mining & Milling Company, and the Washington Water Power Company. Another file contains lode claims and quartz location notices, 1922-1928, and a final file contains records relating to a lease of Roanoke property to C.E. Plumtree.

The third series is Capital Stock Records. Included are a stock ledger, 1908-1926, and two volumes of stock certificates, 1907-1937. There is no stock journal. An assessment receipt book covers 1927-1936, but only fifty-two receipts were issued. A folder of assessment records dates 1920-1936 and contains notices of assessment, lists of stockholders, proxy notices, and like items. Also included is a folder of correspondence dating 1924-1938, unordered.

The fourth series, Financial Records, contains no ledgers or journals. There are vouchers, invoices, three slim check registers, and a few bank statements covering, incompletely, 1913-1937. Also included is a file, fairly complete, of monthly statements of account with the Hercules Mining Company, 1926-1937.

The fifth series, Personnel Records, consists of a single folder in which there are four employment cards. On the front is information about the employee. On the back is an agreement whereby the employee is to pay a monthly fee to the Providence Hospital. There are seven cards that record these monthly payments for late 1926 and early 1927.

Tax Records, the final series, includes one folder of federal income and capital stock tax returns, 1921-1937, incomplete. A second folder contains state returns, 1931-1937, and county tax receipts, 1923-1936.

Removal of returned assessment notices, vouchers, paid checks, bank statements, and duplicate materials reduced the bulk of this collection by two cubic feet.

SERIES LIST

									Container
I.	Records of the Board of Directors and the Stockholders, 1907-1937	1
II.	General Correspondence and Related Records, 1916-1935	1
III.	Capital Stock Records, 1908-1938	1
IV.	Financial Records, 1913-1937	1
V.	Personnel Records, 1926-1927	1
VI.	Tax Records, 1921-1937	1